‘Cats Corner is the official blog for the Tri-City ValleyCats, Short Season Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, and member of the historic New York-Penn League. 'Cats Corner consistently ranks as one of the top 50 professional blogs on the MLB.com network. With game and promotional recaps, team analysis and more, 'Cats Corner is ValleyCats fans #1 source for information.

Close Calls

The ValleyCats have outplayed Connecticut by 5.5 games this season in contests decided by more than one run. Unfortunately, in one-run games, the Tigers are 19-10 while the ‘Cats are just 8-11. That gap widened last night, as the ‘Cats fell 5-4 at Brooklyn while the Tigers won their fourth straight over Aberdeen, 7-6.

The ‘Cats generally played well last night but allowed one big inning – four runs in the fourth off starter Bobby Doran – and that proved the difference. Both teams were fairly efficient with their baserunners; the ‘Cats left four on and scored four, while the Cyclones had five of each. So Tri-City now has to win one, and almost certainly two of its next two games, and even that won’t guarantee a playoff spot. I have the ‘Cats at just 27% to make the playoffs now, with Connecticut nearly a 3-to-1 favorite. (Vermont was eliminated with its loss to Staten Island last night.)

The ValleyCats’ offense, save for a couple games at Lowell, has not played well over the last week and a half, and it can’t count on the pitching staff to continue putting up otherworldly numbers to stay in games. The ‘Cats need to get some runs against newly-converted starter Jonathan Kountis if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.